Wednesday, 15 June 2016

Saint Colum Cille and the Mulroy Fishermen

One thing that I have learnt since I started researching the holy men of Ireland is that it really does not do to cross the saints or fail to be anything other than completely open with them. In the story below, taken from Henry P. Swan's Romantic Stories and Legends of Donegal, we see what happens to the fishermen of Mulroy bay when they begrudge Saint Colum Cille a share of their catch:

A Legend of Mulroy Bay

While fish abound in the waters of Lough Swilly on the right hand and Sheephaven on the left, they are exceedingly scarce in Mulroy Bay. This is the story explaining it.

It happened on his travels through Donegal that Saint Columcille came to Mulroy. Now the fishermen saw him coming and as they had only caught two salmon they grudged a gift to the saint. So one of them said "Hide the fish. We have none to spare if he does be asking us."

When Columcille came to them, he blessed them and their work and asked, "Did you catch any?" The replied that they hadn't but the saint knew that it was a lie, so he said to them, "if you didn't catch anything may you catch now; and if you did catch, may you never catch again."

From that day to this, scarcely a trout or salmon has been caught in the waters of Mulroy Bay.

No comments:

Post a Comment

About this Blog

Trias Thaumaturga is dedicated to the three wonderworking patrons of Ireland - Saint Patrick, Saint Brigid and Saint Colum Cille. It houses an archive of posts from my former blog Under the Oak and complements my current blog Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae, where you will find posts on the other saints of Ireland.

Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae

Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae is the sister blog to this site and contains accounts of the lives of the Irish saints, plus information on the history of the Irish Church. Visit it here.

Copyright Notice

This blog represents my original work, even where I have used public domain sources. I am happy for others to use the materials here provided they respect my right to my intellectual property by linking back to this site. This also applies where posts have been translated into other languages and published elsewhere.

About Me

I am an Irishwoman interested in the lives of our native saints. I am not a professional scholar in this field but attempt to keep up with the work of those who are. I am particularly interested in the many obscure Irish saints whose names fill the pages of our Martyrologies.